As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Many consumers of information handling resources are increasingly demanding that manufacturers of information handling systems provide assurances that an information handling system ordered from the manufacturer has not been tampered with prior to receipt by the customer, or after delivery. For example, without security measures in place, an interloper (e.g., a government intelligence agency, business competitor, or other person with harmful intent) could possibly intercept an information handling system during transit, and replace hardware and software components of the information handling system with malicious components intended to mimic the replaced components while performing some malicious operation (e.g., snooping data, data corruption, or snooping of the information handling system). Furthermore, even if an information handling system is delivered to an intended end user without tampering, such tampering may also occur (e.g., by a rogue employee, individual gaining unauthorized access, or other person with harmful intent). While many approaches have been employed (e.g., Trusted Platform Module) to ensure security of software during transit from manufacturer to intended end user, the industry still lacks an effective approach for providing such security with respect to hardware components and firmware residing on such components.